Baseball in the Netherlands started in 1911, having been introduced to the country by English teacher J.C.G Grasé of Amsterdam, following a holiday to America.
Grasé was also the founder of the oldest baseball club in Europe, Quick Amsterdam (founded 1 March 1913).
Players of Blue White heard of the visit and invited the sailors to a game of baseball.
At the end of the 1937 season, EDO from Haarlem and Blue White from Amsterdam played each other to determine the Dutch champion.
This was the final instance of a two-hour time limit, and beginning in 1938, games in the major league lasted nine innings.
In 1939, a team of Mormon missionaries from Salt Lake City played in the Dutch league under the name Seagulls.
Some pitchers would cut out a small piece in order to throw a curveball, because the balls didn't have seams.
A Dutch American journalist, Albert Balink, managed two trips to spring training camp for Urbanus.
Martin Jole [nl], one of the players who could hit Urbanus, went to a spring training camp with the Cincinnati Reds.
Albert Balink also introduced medals for the best players and hitters, which allowed him to show that baseball is a sport of stats.
From 1949 to 1953, Dutch baseball was dominated by OVVO from Amsterdam, which claimed five consecutive national titles.
American coaches like Ron Fraser and Bill Arce helped the Dutch to improve their game.
He had a very successful Major League career which lasted until 1992, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.
The first Dutch Major League Baseball player who actually grew up and learned the game in the Netherlands was Win Remmerswaal, who pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 1979 and 1980.
The "magnificent three" from the Dutch Antilles were unstoppable: Hudson John, Simon Arrindell and Hamilton Richardson, who all had a big influence on Sparta, but by 1974, the era was over.
The football club, an amateur side, decided to turn professional and begin paying players.
The baseball branch did not agree, and big names, like Urbanus, decided to leave and founded a new club: Amstel Tigers.
Other players like Charles Urbanus Jr. (pitcher/shortstop), Jan Hijzelendoorn (pitcher), Paul Smit (catcher) and Don Wedman decided to follow suit, along with almost the entire team.
Eventually, the members voted for a merger with HCAW from Bussum, a club that was playing the lower league.
In 2009, the Netherlands defeated the heavily favored Dominican Republic twice to qualify for the second round of the World Baseball Classic.
In 2009, for the first time in history, the Baseball World Cup was hosted by a continent rather than a single country.
[5] In the second round they faced the teams from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, South Korea, Nicaragua, Spain and Great Britain.
[6] They went into the third round as the top seed, where they faced the teams from the United States, Canada, Australia and Chinese Taipei.
As a result, the Netherlands played Australia in their final game of the tournament where the fifth and sixth position was determined.
[10] In the first round, they played the teams from Canada, Panama, the United states, Puerto Rico, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Greece.
Curt Smith scored for the Dutch team and received MVP honors, while Tom Stuifbergen was declared best pitcher of the tournament.